Dietitian vs Nutritionist
When trying to choose between a nutritionist and a dietitian, know that there are important differences in their qualifications, scope of expertise and legal status as practitioners.
Comparison chart
| Improve this chart | Dietitian | Nutritionist |
|---|---|---|
| Definition: | A dietitian is a qualified health professional who helps promote good health through proper nutritional habits. | A Nutritionist is a health specialist who devotes professional activity to food and nutritional science, prevent diseases related to nutrient deficiencies, and the use of nutrient manipulation to enhance the clinical response to human diet. |
| Legal status: | Legally considered an expert on nutrition. | Not legally accepted as an expert. |
| Qualifications: | A registered dietitian in the US needs to have a bachelor's degree, complete an internship, take an exam and maintain ongoing education credits. | None required. May or may not have any formal education in this field. |
Contents |
edit Definitions
A Nutritionist is a health specialist who devotes professional activity to food and nutritional science, preventive nutrition, diseases related to nutrient deficiencies, and the use of nutrient manipulation to enhance the clinical response to human diseases. A Dietitian is an expert in food and nutrition. Dietitians help promote good health through proper eating. They also supervise the preparation and service of food, develop modified diets, participate in research, and educate individuals and groups on good nutritional habits .
edit Qualifications
In the US, a Registered Dietitian(RD) needs the following qualifications:
- a Bachelor's degree in nutrition or dietetics
- an internship for 6 to 12 months at a healthcare facility, foodservice company or nonprofit agency approved by the American Dietetic Association
- successful completion of a national exam conducted by the Commission on Dietetic Registration.
- Ongoing education to retain their registration as a dietitian.
Nutritionists are not required to have any such qualifications. This means nutritionists have varying levels of education -- from someone with little or no education to an individual who has obtained a bachelor's, master's, or even a doctoral degree.
edit Legal status
A Dietitian holding a Bachelor's degree in dietetics or related areas is legally regarded as the expert in nutrition and dietary related matters. On the other hand, a Nutritionist may or may not have any educational qualification and is not a legally protected term in most parts of the world.
edit Video Explaining the difference
edit Types
The types of Nutritionists are: Nutrition Scientistsand Public Health Nutritionists. The former are those individuals who use the scientific method to study nutrients, both as individual compounds and as they interact in food and nutrition while the latter are specialists who aid in diagnosing the nutritional problems of communities and in finding solutions to those problems.
The different types of Dietitians include:
Clinical Dietitians: They work in hospitals and other health care facilities to provide medical nutrition therapy to patients according to the disease processes, provide individual dietary consultations to patients and their family members and also conduct group education for other health workers, patients and the public.
Community dietitians: They work with wellness programs and international health organizations.
Foodservice dietitians: They are responsible for large-scale food planning and service.
Gerontological dietitians: They are specialists in nutrition and aging. They are Board certified in Gerontological Nutrition with the American Dietetic Association.
Research dietitians: They are mostly involved with dietary related research in the clinical aspect of nutrition in disease states, public aspect on primary, secondary and sometimes tertiary health prevention and foodservice aspect in issues involving the food prepared for patients.
Administrative Dietitians: They are managers or head of their departments and have a number of dietitians in the department.
Business dietitians: These serve as resource people for the media. Dietitians' expertise in nutrition is often taped for TV, radio, and newspapers -- either as an expert guest opinion, regular columnist or guest, or for resource, restaurant, or recipe development and critique.
Consultant dietitians: These work under private practice.
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